In these days of obsession with Breaking News, it is worth returning to a story sometimes to see what happened to it. The bomb in Jerusalem 8 days ago which killed a British lady at a bus stop is a good example. The Israeli government has announced – on no discernible evidence, that the bomb was the work of Palestinian extremists. The western media has accepted that narrative with no questioning that I can find. But was it?

News media have really given us nothing new since the day. The main development is that it has become plain that the bomb was not placed in a bin, but left in a bag at a busy bus stop. Not only is this not a known Palestinian modus operandi –

“It was nothing like the big suicide bombings of the past decade,” said one security official on the scene. “A small bomb, weighing less than two kilograms was left behind in a bag. There are no hallmarks here of the terror networks we faced then.”

But I should have thought it was a high risk operation for a Palestinian who was not a sucicde bomber to pull off. Anyone who has lived in London this last few years knows exactly how young Muslims with bags on the underground must feel. I expect that is worse on Jerusalem buses. And if this were a Palestinian terrorist, presumably they chose a bus stop frequented by Jewish people not by Palestinian people, in other words where a Palestinian would look conspicuous, and certainly might have difficulty in casually abandoning a bag at a bus stop?

Of course this might have been a Palestinian individual or group branching out with a different form of attack. But there is no reason to believe that it has to be that. It might have a motive unrelated to the Palestinian conflict at all, by some lone nutter. Or if it is related to Israel/Palestine, it does not follow that it was the Palestinians. There are plenty of extremist Jewish groups who must be very alarmed at the change of events in the Middle East, at the loss of their closest regional ally Mubarak, at the end of the nonsensical “only democracy in the Middle East” propaganda, at the sudden discovery by Western media that Arabs are human too. The mind of any terrorist is by definition twisted. It cannot be said to be impossible that this was an action perpetrated by extreme zionists anxious to reclaim world sympathy. There were Jewish victims in the King David Hotel too. The violent nutters are not all on one side.

I too was dismayed – though not surprised – to see how the press routinely parotted the Israeli line that this was the work of 'Palestinians' – without a shred of evidence. Ditto with the Itamar killings a few weeks ago.

What is interesting is that Israel has not done the usual thing and 'retaliated' by bombing a few Palestinian towns and rounding up dozens of Palestinian men. Sure, there's no proof in either case that Palestinians were involved, but since when have the Israelis needed proof? An optimistic interpretation of this would be that the regime change in Egypt has made the Israelis think twice before indulging in yet another war. However, it is more likely to be the case that they are building up an impressive 'portfolio' of alleged attacks by Palestinians so as to justify another war which will take place at a time (just before elections) and place (likely Gaza) of Mr Netanyahu's choosing.

Yes, what is happening in Awarta is bad, but doesn't compare to what used to happen any time there was a suicide bomb in Israel. If you'll recall, the IDF would raid the town wherethe suspected perpetrator lived, several people would be detained and his home would often be demolished – sometimes with a few others for good measure. Then there would be widespread checkpoint closures for miles around. So in comparison to that, this is pretty mild by IDF standards.

I suspect the authorities know very well that Palestinians were likely not involved (didn't they put a gag order on the investigation, and isn't a Thai worker being questioned?) and that is why the 'reprisals' have been relatively mild. And there have been none at all in the case of the Jerusalem bombing – yes, a few missiles were lobbed into Gaza, but that's routine for the IDF. Like I say, proof or lack thereof isn't really an issue for Israel when it comes to Palestinians, so I also suspect that there may be some other reason Israel is behaving relatively (and it's very very relative) leniently in these cases.

Thanks for the links. However, sad to say none of this is out of the ordinary for Palestine. Sounds like just another day in the life of the Occupied Territories – these things happen every day, with or without 'provocation' by the Palestinians, and are rarely reported in the mainstream news. This of course makes it easier for the Israelis to claim that they are 'retaliating' for Palestinian actions. But I am sort of surprised that the Israelis haven't made more of these attacks – there were reports last week that they were disappointed that they didn't have the PR effect the government had hoped.

Although Palestinians have the right to resist Israeli occupation and retaliate to numerous israeli attacks on their children; I believe this particular bomb was an inside job meant to justify some attacks on Gaza, or may Natanyahu need to play the victim card in Russia, which he visited one day after the attack.

BTW who on earth are these 'British Muslims for Israel' people mentioned in the article linked to by Craig?

And how DARE they demand that all Muslims condemn the Jerusalem bomb? Why on earth should they – anymore than anyone of any faith or none should condemn any random attack on civilians, anywhere in the world? So can we expect British Jews to condemn any attack which takes place in Palestine, even if it may well have been a local who planted the bomb? What nonsense!

Yep, I've checked their website; it smells strongly of a front organisation. Its contention that the Palestine-Israel issue is not about land is just plain daft but runs very much with the 'clash of civilisations' rhetoric so beloved of the neocons. The website is clearly extremely neo-con pro-Israel. In fact, it looks like a crude propaganda organ for the Israeli regime. Who funds 'em? Who ARE they? Why do they call themselves what they call themselves? How strange, how obvious. There are a number of genuine progressive Muslim groups in the UK and USA; this clearly is not one of them. Thanks, Germanicus, for pointing it out. http://www.britishmuslimsforisrael.com/BMFI/About…

So much for 'British Muslims for Israel'. He'll go far, he'll be rich (if he's not already) and we will be seeing him on our screens, one of those talking heads to sit beside Niall F and Dougie-woogie Murray.

Thanks for digging that BMFI stuff up Suhayl. This is the said Hasan Afzal who is so popular in Israhell that he has had 16,000 views in 3 days. It is an interview on Israel Channel 10 that starts in Hebrew but then goes to English. Pure crapaganda.

It is a famous cliche, but rather a lot of my friends are Jews. Nobody should be disliked for their ethnicity or religion. You may be surprised to know that quite a few of my friends – both Jewish and non-Jewish – are zionists. My best friend is an ardent zionist, and sometimes we discuss it. I don't like or dislike people according to what they believe.

It's just the same broken record as before, back in its old groove; rather predictably, in the case of our good friend and fellow-passenger through this world, the veneer of politesse as mechanism for the establishment of validity on the new website has evaporated. Did anyone ever own a Yugo, btw? Were they any good as cars? Perhaps there is a garage somewhere in Somerset where they play only songs from the 1980s and which specialises in fixing-up old Yugos!

When accused, the most racist man in the American South was able to present a 'best friend." Germans who participated in the slaughter could produce Jewish friends.

It's not a cliche. It's an attempt at distraction.

You bring up the King David Hotel because you're a racist Jew-hater. If you were honest, you would admit that – right now, at this moment – you would not be able to speak to any atrocity committed by the Germans, Austrian, Russians, Romanians, Americans, or Poles in World War II. You have no clue about the history of the 1940s, other than Jewish irregulars blowing up that hotel under controlled circumstances back during that time that you otherwise consider ancient history.

Why the fuck do you keep bringing that up? And when will you stop bringing that up? When will the current Jews who live in Israel not have to answer to that?

If a Muslim group blows up a bomb tomorrow in Turkey, you will accept the explanation of the police. Surely you will make pathetic excuses for the terrorists, but you will accept that there is no conspiracy among the Turks.

There's a reason that you're an ignored person, Craig Murray. You're an embarrassment to the left, to the right, to 911 truthers, to the Stop the War Coalition, to the FCO, to everyone who ever had anything to do with you.

Your life boils down to anti-social conspiracy-believing misanthopic Jew hating.

Larry, I'd have thought you would support Craig's position – surely you commend the stance of "condemnation of violence on both sides", as our host does? Again, if anyone here – Craig or anyone – were a "Jew hater", they'd come out and say it, surely?

A rare day out for the children of this densely populated refugee camp. They had lots of fun and got away from the wall which is right up against them. Sometimes the Israeli IOF (Israeli Occupation Force) soldiers take pot shots at the kids playing on the balconies of the multi-storey dwellings. Some have been killed and many injured over the years..http://www.lajee.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=14…

The people with records of such action shopuld be the default assumption. It could also have been teleported there by space aliens and there is no discernable evidence otherwise, but few would bet on it.